Footloose

Footloose (1984) follows Ren, who moves from Chicago to a small town where dancing is banned. Behind the ban sit a preacher and an accident years earlier, so the prohibition comes out of grief rather than morality. Ren takes the fight for a school dance to the town council. The story is not invented. Elmore City, Oklahoma had banned dancing since 1898. In February 1980 the junior class asked permission to hold a prom and it became national news. The school board vote was tied, and the president broke it by saying: let them dance. Dean Pitchford had the idea in 1979, wrote his first screenplay from it, and wrote most of the lyrics too. Tom Cruise and Rob Lowe were considered first. Cruise was tied up on another film and Lowe's audition was cut short by an injury. Director Herbert Ross pushed for Kevin Bacon after seeing Diner, and Bacon turned down a Stephen King adaptation to take the risk. It cost 7.5 million dollars, made 80 million in the United States, and was the seventh highest grossing film of 1984. It runs 107 minutes. Good for: eighties teen films, music driven storytelling, and generational conflict. Less good for: the script is simple and the opposition gives in too easily. The dance doubles for Bacon are visible, and the editing cuts hard to hide them.